Lily and Sophie exchanged worried glances.
“What do we do now?” Sophie asked.
Ana looked at the three of us and thought for a moment. “Henri,” she called. The elfish man instantly appeared. “Please check on the status of Ecudiar and Drakonas.”
Henri gave a small bow and hastily retreated.
“The Hunter knows where you live, which is a disadvantage. However, if he comes within five hundred yards of the border of my property, Ecudiar and Drakonas will sound an alarm, like they did earlier. That should be enough to keep him away. However, if he chooses not to heed their warning and crosses over the threshold, they will attack ferociously with intent to kill.”
“Are you saying we’re safe here?” Sophie asked nervously.
“You’re safer here than anywhere else for the moment,” Ana replied. “So I think, at least for the time being, the two of you should stay here with Calista on my property. I’ll call your parents and explain the circumstances. If they wish you to return home, that is up to them. But I believe they’ll agree this is for the best.”
Sophie and Lily nodded, appeased by Ana’s faith that the guards would protect us. I, however, was still steaming from what they’d said about Nicholas...how ungrateful they were to him.
Henri reappeared. “The sentinels have reverted to stationary observatory positions, ma’am,” he reported.
Ana nodded. “Good. The threat has passed for now. You should return to your room and try to relax. I know it will be difficult, but we knew the danger was always out there. At least now you know where it’s coming from. If anything unfortunate should arise, Lily, I want you to shimmer Calista and Sophie back here immediately. ”
Her words didn’t make me feel any better about the fact that Nicholas was considered persona non grata even though he’d just saved my life.
Or, that my dear friend Justin was a monster with a death sentence.
Chapter 25. Druantia
Since we didn’t want to risk waking my father by moving the daybed into my room, the three of us settled into my bed, which fortunately was large enough to accommodate all of us with plenty of room to spare. The only bad part—I was stuck in the middle.
We whispered quietly by candlelight for a few hours. Sophie and Lily were concerned about Brady and Roman, but devastated about Justin. Now that we had some time to let it sink in, we realized how much it hurt that someone we knew—someone who was our friend—had morphed into our mortal enemy, through no fault of his own. He just had the rotten luck to be born into a family cursed by the misplaced rage of his long-gone ancestors.
I’d thought about Witch-Hunters and dark witches before, but I’d always pictured them as nameless, faceless strangers. Not someone I’d held in my arms. Not someone I’d kissed—however innocent it may have been.
I don’t know how I managed to drift off, but I finally did. And when I awakened a short time later to a face inches from mine and a hand covering my mouth, my heart stopped.
“Sssshh…it’s me,” Nicholas whispered ever so quietly in my ear. He was floating about one foot over my body, as if he were lying on top of me. Sophie and Lily were fast asleep on either side of me as he hovered silently in the shadows.
He removed his hand from my mouth and grabbed both of my shoulders. Instantly, I felt the familiar freezing tickle. The next second, we were sitting in the middle of a small field of grass, surrounded by tall trees and thick brush.
We had to be far away from home because the fog was gone. Above us, the stars shone with bright luminescence. The moon, ripe and full, lit up the clear night sky.
“Where are we?” I whispered, suddenly very aware I was wearing only a thin white nightgown. But the air was comfortably warm and dry.
Nicholas turned to me, and the moonlight cast an ethereal glow on his face. Once again, I was struck by the intensity and depth radiating from his icy-green eyes. His voice was low and reverent as he held my gaze.
“This…is the Isle of Druantia.”
*****
There was something hauntingly familiar about this place. We were sitting on green silky moss surrounded by trees and bushes. However, this was obviously no ordinary forest. The illuminated grove sparkled and danced under a golden filter of moonlight, but the foliage seemed to be emitting the surreal glow of phosphorescent light, not just reflecting it.
Several ancient ash and oak trees towered around us, forming a perfect circle, their massive trunks standing thick and twisted. They shone with a silvery-white hue that made them appear petrified except for the lush green leaves springing from the golden branches above. Sweet smelling wild flowers grew freely up the trunks, each one flawless and in full bloom, and dozens of tiny, mysterious white lights twinkled from within the unseen depths of the gilded branches. Brightly colored birds sang as if it were a spring day, and butterflies danced with fireflies in the open skies above us.
“But…where are we?” Wherever we were, it felt like a million miles away from Crystal Cove. I wasn’t even sure we were on the same planet anymore.
Nicholas reached for my hand, helping me stand up. “Nowhere…Everywhere. Actually, I’m not exactly sure where this place would be on a map,” he admitted, a smirk spreading across his full lips.
I realized this should worry me. But being here, with Nicholas holding my hand, I was incapable of feeling anything but blissful happiness and complete security.
“Then how’d you find it?” I asked, still mesmerized by the magical scene.
“I was just a young boy when I teleported—or shimmered, as you call it—here for the first time. This place called to me—it guided me here.”
Something stirred from deep inside me; a memory fighting its way to the surface of my consciousness.
“I’ve been here before,” I whispered to myself.
“Yes,” came his equally soft reply.
I forced my eyes away from the glittering grove and turned to look at him—the realization hitting me like a bolt of lightning. “I have been here…with you.”
“Yes.”
He stood mere inches from me; his warm breath caressed my cheeks.
“But it was only a dream…” I said, my voice faltering.
He raised an eyebrow, and cracked a tiny grin. “Does that mean it wasn’t real?”
“Well, a dream…that’s only imagination…it’s not real…”
Or was it? I stared at him, confused. How did he know I’d dreamed of being here with him?
He smiled at me tenderly and led me to a small bench that appeared to be carved from the finest marble. I wondered how something like that could be here…in a place seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
“We need to talk,” Nicholas said as we sat down, our bodies close but not quite touching.
That’s the understatement of the century.
“Yeah…”
He took a deep breath and tilted his head up so he was looking at the stars. I had so many things I wanted to say to him…so many questions. Yet I wanted nothing more than to sit with him in silence, here in this heavenly place. I feared words would only do harm.
“For so long, I’d searched for others like me…for someone who could explain to me what I was, and why I was so different from other people.” He looked at me sideways, and continued. “You see, my parents adopted me right after I was born. They have no knowledge of my…abilities.”
“I thought it might be something like that,” I murmured with relief. “Ana said she knew your mother wasn’t a witch and that the magical bloodline is only passed down through the mother.”
He ran his hands through his thick, dark hair. Then he lowered his head and glanced up at me. “She’s probably right about that. Everything I’ve found suggests this to be the case.” Lightly, he traced my palm with his fingertip, his voice barely a whisper. “You don’t know what it felt like to see you there on the beach that day…a vision of sweetness and innocence...your beauty and strength.”
He tilted his
face so close to mine, our noses almost touched. “And then I read your heart,” he continued. “I saw who you were. I knew you were the one I’d been searching for all this time. The beautiful girl from my visions.”
My heart skipped a beat. “You saw me before we met?”
He nodded.
“I’ve dreamed of you for as long as I can remember. But in those dreams, you never saw me. You never even looked at me.” His eyes sparkled darkly. “Until recently...”
“I can see you now,” I finished, breathless.
He nodded almost imperceptibly. “That day...that day at the beach... I was so stunned to see you there, in the flesh. But then I could tell that you didn’t know yet…the truth about who you really were. I wanted to wrap you in my arms and take you away right then and there, but I couldn’t. I knew you weren’t ready yet...” His voice drifted off and he glanced back to the sky.
I needed to remind myself several times to keep breathing. I even pinched the top of my leg to make sure I wasn’t dreaming now.
“I was so worried,” he murmured, then shook his head. “Although I shouldn’t have been. But I’ve been wrong before.”
“Worried about what?” I whispered, and smoothed my nightgown over my legs.
His gaze met mine. “You’d be surprised at the different ways people react when they learn they have magical powers.” His voice was low and serious. “It brings out the best in some people…but it can also bring out the worst.”
I scrunched my brow. “You thought I might turn bad or evil or something?”
Nicholas shook his head, and gently rested his hand on top of mine, giving it a light squeeze. “I just didn’t know how you’d handle it. Some people can’t take it. Some people get drunk on the power with disastrous consequences. Some have mental breakdowns because their minds can’t process what is happening. But I shouldn’t have worried. Like I said, I read your heart. I knew you were good...and that you’d stay that way.”
“What do you mean you ‘read my heart’?” I asked, wondering if he knew how much it throbbed under his warm touch.
He smiled tenderly, the moonlight catching his eyes as they crinkled. “Maybe you guys have a different word for it. It’s the only way I know to describe what it is I can do. I can see inside someone…the essence of who they are and how they feel.”
I lowered my gaze. “I do something similar to that, too. I can feel what other people are feeling.” I glanced up to meet his eyes. “But...”
“What?” he nudged gently when I didn’t finish.
I looked down again. “I—I don’t have it with you. I don’t know what you’re feeling.”
He placed his finger under my chin and tilted my head up. He smiled, and my heart melted. “I think you do, Calista. I just think that our feelings for one another have become indistinguishable. You’re feeling what I’m feeling...” He paused and chuckled. “Because I can feel it.”
Was it true? Was that why my feelings for him were so strong...so overwhelmingly powerful and intense? Because I wasn’t just feeling my own emotions, but his as well?
That meant...
A smile slowly crept over my face, and my whole body seemed to sing. I turned my hand over so my palm met his, and he instantly slid his fingers between mine, holding tight.
A perfect fit.
Chapter 26. Reunion
“You can do so many things… How did you learn all that if your parents didn’t raise you magical?” I asked, tilting my head up. Nicholas and I were walking, hand in hand, around the enchanted forest from our dreams.
Now our reality. Our beautiful, perfect, miraculous reality.
Nicholas frowned. “My parents couldn’t be bothered with the actual duties of raising a child. They were married only briefly, and Maria…that’s my mother…she thought having a child would be good for her image. Like I said before, she’s an actress. My father, Frank, is a novelist. Not as famous as my mother, but still quite successful.” He sounded matter of fact, like he was reading a book report. I wondered why he was telling me this, and what it had to do with him being a warlock.
We paused by a pond, and I marveled at how the water cast a perfect reflection of the two of us side-by-side, as if we were looking in a mirror. I had to admit, we looked pretty amazing together, even if I was wearing only a nightgown.
“Frank Mancini…that name sounds familiar. But I don’t think I’ve heard of a Maria Mancini,” I said.
“She goes by her professional name, Mary Andrews.”
I jerked my head up. “Wait...the Mary Andrews?”
He nodded.
Oh…wow…even I’d heard of her…the whole world knew who she was.
“The reason I’m telling you this is just to show you a little where I come from, and why I am the way I am.”
“Keep going,” I said eagerly. We continued strolling around the grounds, and I couldn’t stop admiring the glowing, sparkly flowers and trees. How were they doing that?
“Okay, so Maria decides that having a baby would be a good PR move, and Frank goes along with it. Nobody says no to Maria. Anyway, they don’t want to have to wait for the lengthy adoption process…Maria’s not really the patient type. So on one of her film shoots she runs across a poor peasant girl in some small village in New Zealand who’s about to give birth. Arrangements are made…money is paid…she returns back home to the states a few weeks later with me and relishes the attention of a new mom.”
Nicholas paused and bent over. He stood up and presented me with a perfect, lavender rose. I smiled and sniffed its sweet scent, then tucked it behind my ear the way Ana had done…the way my mother had done.
“But,” he continued, “like with everything Maria does, when it’s not all about her, she quickly loses interest. She and my dad divorced when I was two, and she’d already decided that she was bored with the whole ‘mommy act’. So I went to live with my father in New York, only coming out occasionally to visit Maria and play the part of the dutiful son.”
“Did they tell you that you were adopted?” I asked, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
“Not until I was older. But I’d already figured it out by then anyway,” he said. “Frank raised me, doing the best he could, I suppose. He never really wanted children either. He’d only agreed to keep Maria happy. Problem is, some people just aren’t cut out to be parents, and that’s how Frank was. He preferred to be left alone with his writing. He locked himself away for weeks at a time, not wanting to be bothered. His mind was always somewhere else, never on me or what I was doing. Of course he made sure I had the best of everything…best nannies, clothes, housing, schools. But essentially I was left alone to raise myself, with no parental interest or involvement.”
“That’s so sad,” I whispered to him, remembering my own painfully lonely childhood. But at least I had a father who loved and cared for me.
He shrugged, his expression passive, as though he’d come to terms with his situation long ago and no longer dwelled on it. “I used to think so too, but now I realize it was their lack of interference that made it possible for me to discover who I was.”
“How?”
We’d come upon a patch of silky soft grass, I gently pulled his hand and we both sat down. I leaned my body against his, and he smoothed my hair back from my face.
“I began teleporting—shimmering— when I was about eight years old. I could go anywhere in the world I wanted to. I found myself seeking others who were like me, and could teach me more about myself and my powers. By focusing on exactly what I hoped to find, somehow I always managed to find my way there.”
“Where did you go?” I whispered. His lips were so close to mine. If I leaned forward just the slightest bit...
“Everywhere. Well, a lot of places. A lot of very strange places.” He chuckled softly. “The first place I went was a farmhouse in the Australian Outback. It was home to a sorcerer, a witch, and their three daughters. For a while they became sort of like my family. They taught me many
things about who we are.
“But then I must have been ready for some new guidance, because a few years later I found myself in a small village in western Africa. Later I went to Tibet, Brazil, Russia, Italy…you name it.”
“So you learned how to be a warlock from different people around the world?”
“Yes…many people in many places. Many different kinds of magic.”
“Wow.”
He stood up and held out his hand. Together we walked over to the sparkling pond that bore a perfect reflection of the moon on its still waters.
“Okay, you discover that you are a warlock, and learn all about it. So why doesn’t anyone around here know about you?” I asked, not because I was concerned, but so I would have an answer for Ana.
“Well, I expect it’s because they weren’t looking.” He grinned. “Maria isn’t a witch, and I spend only a little time out here. It’s not like I advertise I’m a warlock. It’s very easy to go unnoticed when you want to.”
I felt an enormous sense of relief that surprised me. I hadn’t realized how important it was to me that Nicholas be accepted by Ana, Sophie and Lily. Once they heard his story there’d be no cause for worry, and I’d be free to spend time with him without them giving me a hard time about it.
Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind, and I was shocked I hadn’t thought of it until now.
“Justin! What happened to him? Did you find him?” I asked, dreading his answer. But I had to know.
Nicholas stared straight ahead, his jaw set. “He was approaching your house when the sentinels sounded their warning, but was still several hundred yards away. He ran away when he heard them. I followed close behind and tracked him back to his house where he planned to remain for the night.”
“So you didn’t fight?” I felt a flood of relief. I knew that it was foolish for me to feel this way, but I couldn’t bear the thought of Justin dying at Nicholas’ hands.
“No, we didn’t fight. I made sure that he was staying away, and then I came back and got you. I wanted to make sure you were all right, and I knew we needed to clear some things up between us.”
Witchy, Witchy (Spellbound Trilogy #1) Page 19
